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POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL
POLICY NO.: 2.30
EFFT. DATE: 05/01/02
REV. DATE: 05/16/06
WORKPLACE HARASSMENT
APPLICATION: Fulltime and parttime classified, “at will” and hourly employees.
PURPOSE
To educate employees in the recognition and prevention of illegal
workplace harassment and to provide an effective means of
eliminating such harassment from the workplace.
DEFINITIONS
Workplace
Harassment
Any unwelcome verbal, written or physical conduct that either
denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards a person on the
basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual
orientation, age, veteran status, political affiliation, or disability,
that: (1) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating,
hostile or offensive work environment; (2) has the purpose or
effect of unreasonably interfering with an employee's work
performance; or (3) affects an employee's employment
opportunities or compensation.
Retaliation
Overt or covert acts of reprisal, interference, restraint, penalty,
discrimination, intimidation, or harassment against an individual
or group exercising rights under this policy.
Sexual Harassment
Any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or
verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature by a
manager, supervisor, coworkers or nonemployee (third party).
• Quid pro quo – A form of sexual harassment when a
manager/supervisor or a person of authority gives or
withholds a workrelated benefit in exchange for sexual
favors. Typically, the harasser requires sexual favors from the
victim, either rewarding or punishing the victim in some way.
• Hostile environment – A form of sexual harassment when a
victim is subjected to unwelcome and severe or pervasive
repeated sexual comments, innuendoes, touching, or other
conduct of a sexual nature which creates an intimidating or
offensive place for employees to work.
Third Parties
Individuals who are not state employees, but who have business
interactions with state employees. Such individuals include, but
are not limited to:
• customers, including applicants for state employment or
services;
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POLICY NO.: 2.30
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REV. DATE: 05/16/06
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• vendors;
• contractors; or
• volunteers.
PROHIBITED
CONDUCT
Harassment
The Commonwealth strictly forbids harassment of any employee,
applicant for employment, vendor, contractor or volunteer, on the
basis of an individual’s race, sex, color, national origin, religion,
sexual orientation, age, veteran status, political affiliation or
disability.
Retaliation
The Commonwealth will not tolerate any form of retaliation
directed against an employee or third party who either complains
about harassment or who participates in any investigation
concerning harassment.
HARASSMENT
COMPLAINT
PROCEDURE
Employees and third parties should report incidents of workplace
harassment as soon as possible after the incident occurs.
Employees and applicants for employment seeking to remedy
workplace harassment may file a complaint with the agency
human resource director, the agency head, their supervisor(s), or
any individual(s) designated by the agency to receive such
reports. Under no circumstances shall the individual alleging
harassment be required to file a complaint with the alleged
harasser.
State Complaint
Procedure
The employee or applicant may follow the Commonwealth
Employees’ Discrimination Complaint Procedure, which is
administered by the Office of Equal Employment Services within
the Department of Human Resource Management.
Grievance Procedure
Eligible employees also may use the State Employee Grievance
Procedure, which is administered by the Department of
Employment Dispute Resolution, to address harassment.
Federal Complaint
Process
Employees (and applicants for Commonwealth employment) also
may file a complaint with the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission.
Assurance Against
Retaliation
Employees and third parties who make complaints of workplace
harassment, or provide information related to such complaints,
will be protected against retaliation. If retaliation occurs, the
employee(s) should report the retaliation through the harassment
complaint procedure.
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POLICY NO.: 2.30
EFFT. DATE: 05/01/02
REV. DATE: 05/16/06
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POLICY
VIOLATIONS
Engaging In
Harassment
Any employee who engages in conduct determined to be
harassment, or who encourages such conduct by others, shall be
subject to corrective action under Policy 1.60, Standards of
Conduct, which may include discharge from employment.
Allowing Harassment
To Continue
Managers and/or supervisors who allow workplace harassment to
continue or fail to take appropriate corrective action upon
becoming aware of the harassment may be considered a party to
the offense, even though they may not have engaged in such
behavior.
Failure To Respond
Managers and/or supervisors who allow workplace harassment to
continue or who fail to take appropriate action should be subject
to disciplinary action under Policy 1.60, Standards of Conduct,
including demotion or discharge.
AGENCY
RESPONSIBILITIES
Agencies must communicate this policy to their employees and
third parties as applicable, including:
• educating their employees about the types of behavior that
can be considered workplace harassment, and
• explaining procedures established for filing workplace
harassment complaints.
Agency managers and supervisors are required to:
• Stop any workplace harassment of which they are aware,
whether or not a complaint has been made;
• Express strong disapproval of all forms of workplace
harassment;
• Stop any acts that they see that may be considered workplace
harassment, and take appropriate steps to intervene;
• Take immediate action to prevent retaliation towards the
complaining party or any participant in an investigation; and
• Take immediate action to eliminate any hostile work
environment where there has been a complaint of
workplace harassment.
AUTHORITY
The Department of Human Resource Management issues this
policy pursuant to the authority provided in Chapter 12, Title 2.2
of the Code of Virginia.
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POLICY NO.: 2.30
EFFT. DATE: 05/01/02
REV. DATE: 05/16/06
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This policy supersedes Policy 2.15, Sexual Harassment, issued
September 16, 1993.
INTERPRETATION
The Director of the Department of Human Resource Management
is responsible for official interpretation of this policy, in
accordance with § 2.21201(13) of the Code of Virginia.
Questions regarding the application of this policy should be
directed to the Department of Human Resource Management’s
Office of Agency Human Resource Services or the Office of
Equal Employment Services.
The Department of Human Resource Management reserves the
right to revise or eliminate this policy.
RELATED
POLICIES
Policy 1.60, Standards of Conduct
Policy 1.80, Workplace Violence
Policy 2.05, Equal Employment Opportunity